A Knight to Remember (Knight Series #2) [NOOK Book]

Overview

She cannot risk ruin . . .

Once the Duchess of Cleere, Lady Edlyn is now a widow. After suffering a humiliating scandal, she is forced to take refuge in an abbey, where she uses her skills as an herbalist to heal injured soldiers. When she's asked to tend to the wounds of a knight who's in hiding, she's shocked to discover he is none other than Hugh de Florisoun—the man she has desired for years. Yet she knows...

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Overview

She cannot risk ruin . . .

Once the Duchess of Cleere, Lady Edlyn is now a widow. After suffering a humiliating scandal, she is forced to take refuge in an abbey, where she uses her skills as an herbalist to heal injured soldiers. When she's asked to tend to the wounds of a knight who's in hiding, she's shocked to discover he is none other than Hugh de Florisoun—the man she has desired for years. Yet she knows surrendering to the temptation he presents could be her ultimate downfall.

For a night of passion . . .

Renowned for his prowess on the battlefield, Lord Hugh de Florisoun never imagined the day would come that he'd see the beautiful, refined Lady Edlyn working as a common peasant—and in a nunnery, no less. His yearning for her burns as strongly as ever. But Edlyn scorns all his advances. Somehow Hugh must find a way to unlock her heart—before secrets from both of their pasts jeopardize any chance for a future together.

Editorial Reviews

Kirkus Reviews

Veteran Newsweek editor Cose turns from his distinguished nonfictional studies (Color-Blind: Seeing Beyond Race in a Race-Obsessed World, 1997, etc.) to an issues-oriented legal suspenser, with provokingly inconclusive results. Nobody denies that accountant John Wisocki, fired from his job at Computertronics when the company was swallowed up by Infotect, took a gun one Sunday evening to the office of Francisco Garc¡a, the junior colleague who'd been kept on instead of him, and shot Garc¡a moments after he arrived. But was the shooting deliberate and premeditated, fueled by hatred and backlash against affirmative action, as Wisocki seemed to indicate in a note he composed on Garc¡a's own word processor: "I know that some people have suffered unjustly. But America never persecuted Colombians"? Or was the death an accidental interruption of the suicide Wisocki had planned without having any idea that Garc¡a would come in that night? Even before the trial begins, Wisocki's attorney, rising black star Felicia Fontaine, scurries to make the defense's case in the press, running at every turn into the counterthrusts of her ex-lover, senior trial counsel Mario Santiago. Because Felicia is Cose's heroine, he spends lots of time showing the unlikely bedfellows she courts, or who court her(Wisocki's estranged wife, a loudly approving right-wing radio show host, a lecherous minister, a bevy of TV talking heads), in an attempt to put Wisocki in the best possible light. The real novelty of his presentation, though, isn't the expected ringing debate about affirmative action (which duly appears, but only with a secondary emphasis), but the evenhanded back-and-forth between Felicia and Mario,both by turns worried about their witnesses, depressed about holes in the evidence, and utterly confidentþusually at the end of the same day's testimonyþof victory. The result is that rarity, an unpredictable courtroom drama in which disputed facts take a backseat to the issues they raise, and whose leading questions are still hanging when you turn the final page.

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Meet the Author

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New York Times bestselling author Christina Dodd builds worlds filled with suspense, romance, and adventure and creates the most distinctive characters in fiction today. Her fifty novels have been translated into twenty-five languages, featured by Doubleday Book Club, recorded on Books on Tape for the Blind, won Romance Writers of America's Golden Heart and RITA® awards, and been called the year's best by Library Journal. Dodd herself has been a clue in the Los Angeles Times crossword puzzle.

Read an Excerpt

A Knight to Remember

Chapter One

Medieval England
Wessex, Spring 1265

As Edlyn leaned over to fit the key into the lock, the door creaked on its hinges. Confused, she stared at the widening aperture. The wood around the lock hung in splinters, and only the half-light of dawn had masked the damage from her unwary gaze.

Someone had broken into the dispensary.

She took a hasty step back along the graveled path in the dispensary's garden. The recent battle had brought many men-wounded men, frightened men, desperate men-to the abbey's infirmary, and she knew better than to linger alone in their vicinity.

As Edlyn prepared to run, she heard the sound of labored breathing. Whoever had shattered the door remained inside, and judging from his anguished sounds, he was hurt. She hesitated, unwilling to let anyone suffer, yet knowing she should seek one of the monks for assistance.

Before she could make her decision, an arm snaked around her throat. Jerked hard against a sweaty male body, she kicked wildly. Something touched her cheek, and steel glinted at the comer of her eye.

A dagger.

"If ye scream, I'll slit yer throat from gullet t' gizzard."

He spoke the Norman French of all English noblemen, but his common diction and grammar made it almost unintelligible. Nevertheless, she understood him only too well, and in the soothing tone she'd Perfected through the days and nights of tending the ill and wounded, she answered, "I can safely guarantee my silence."

The man's grip tightened. He dragged her up until her toes dangled and she gagged from the pressure on her windpipe. "Aye, a woman'll lie always t'save herself." He shook her a little, then the pressure loosened. "But ye won't betray me if ye know what's smart."

She sucked in air, and her gaze roamed the inside of the walled herb garden and the dispensary. She needed one of the nuns. Even the prioress, Lady Blanche, would have been a welcome sight. But the sun had scarcely risen. The nuns were still at Prime. Next, they would break their fast, and only then would they disperse to their duties in the refectory, infirmary, and gardens. Edlyn's survival depended on her own quick thinking-as always. "Are you looking for food?" she asked. "Or medicines? We have many men who have come from the battle seeking-"

The arm tightened brutishly, and she clawed at her captor as red suns exploded behind her eyes. Then he dropped her like a savaged puppy. She hit the ground hard.

Putting his foot on her stomach, he leaned over her and pointed the dagger at her chest. "What makes ye think I came from th' battlefield?"

She resisted panic and pain as she tried to think

how to reply. Should she tell him he smelled of blood, filth, and brutality? She didn't think he wanted to hear that, but then she didn't understand how her hard-won peace could have been shattered so cruelly. "Men come here seeking our help," she whispered. "I thought you might have been one of them."

"Not me. I'm not wounded."

"Nay, I see my mistake now."

She saw more than that. An ugly, squat man, her attacker wore a leather jerkin and carried nearly all the weapons that had been created to destroy mankind. Blood smeared his arms and under his chin, but most of it, she thought, wasn't his. He stood too firmly and had proved his strength only too well.

Beneath his leather cap, his wide brow creased as he frowned. He was nothing but some knight's manservant, trained to fight and hurt and kill, and she would wager he did all with supreme confidence. But something confounded him now, and again she tried to sound encouraging as she asked, "How may I aid you?"

He glanced around, then back down at her. "I got someone in there. I want ye t' fix him."

Praise God. Edlyn could scarcely see for relief. This muscled monstrosity wasn't going to rape her. He wasn't going to kill her. He just wanted help for his master or his friend. She'd tasted fear before, and only now did she recognize its metallic flavor on her tongue. "Wounded?" she asked.

He hesitated, then nodded abruptly, as if even that had given too much away.

"He would be better in the infirmary. Let me take you-" She tried to raise herself on her elbows, but the point of the knife suddenly threatened again.

"Gullet to gizzard," she finished. "So you've said. But I can't help him if you won't let me off the ground."

He still hesitated, then took his foot off her belly and extended a hand to help her up-and to maintain control of her. "In there." He jerked his head toward the dispensary and stood behind her as she entered.

Outside, the rising sun had begun to illuminate the landscape. Inside, the stone walls blocked the light and the small windows spitefully admitted only the faintest rays. Edlyn opened her eyes wide, trying to locate the source of her troubles.

"He's here on th' floor." Reverence laced the servant's voice. He shut the door, then knelt on the dirt floor beside a man-sized length of metal and rags. "I've brought ye help, master," he whispered. "She'll make ye well."

No response, no movement, no sound. Edlyn feared this master must already be dead, and she balanced on the balls of her feet, ready to flee at the moment despair struck the wretched oaf.

Then her captor groaned in unconcealed anxiety. "Master. . . "

Before she could change her mind, she laid a hand on the servant's shoulder. "Move aside and let me see what I can do..."

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Great Book

Although I have only read two of Dodd's books, this one is as great as the first one I read, Move Heaven and Earth. Once I started reading, I could not put her books down.This book shows how one woman can change a man's life.

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted August 25, 2004

i fell in love

you know, these character are just like me and my spouse. except...neither of us were wounded on a eleventh century battlefield and i dont have a lance.

3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

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I like it very much and highly recommend it.

The opening scene is unique and the mood suspenseful and dangerous . . . and the sexual tension starts early and is maintained throughout the book.

Hugh and Edlyn have wonderful chemistry and depth in their relationship, and though Hugh is an overbearing typical medeivel male in some ways, he is romantic at heart and tries very hard to understand Edlyn, believes in her and, and in the end, wins her, and me, over in a big way.

The plot wasn't all that amazing or original, but it was a very well written book, great characters, enjoyable dialouge, toe curling love scenes. It also had some very funny moments . . . a thoroughly enjoyable read by a very talented author.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted October 30, 2012

Loved This book!

A very good love story..a lot of fighting with swords on horseback and the hero is wounded and dying. The Heroine is like a Doctor. She brings him back to life by holding him and whispering into his ear..

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted December 18, 2005

Worst Book I've Ever Read!

By far the worst book I've ever read! I'm sorry to say this is also the first book I've ever read by Ms. Dodd. As an avid romance reader, I like my novels spicy, steamy and intriguing. This book was sorely lacking in all departments. I couldn't recommend it to anyone in good conscience. I may read another book by Christina Dodd, but I'm afraid before I do it will take me a long time to rid myself of the cringe that passes over me everytime I see it sitting on my shelf.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted December 13, 2013

Hard to get into

I didn't care for the writing style and that made iit hard to get into. Should've read a sample first!

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Anonymous

Posted November 4, 2012

Flarepelt

I am a tom that is very shy. I have dark orange fur with deep blue eyes. I would love to have kits!!!! I have a power an it is to............ fly. Please consider me your mate.

0 out of 10 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted November 4, 2012

Dusknight

(U can be my mate. But what is ur name? Sorry but my nook doesnt show headlines!) ~Dusknight

0 out of 9 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted March 15, 2006

ANOTHER DISAPOINTMENT

once again ive been disapointed by christina dodd. it started out ok and then it just got boring and this is one i wouldnt waste my money on again

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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